The Western Waters Digital Library: The Foundations of American Water Policy

Creation of encoded archival description (EAD) finding aids for 558 linear feet of archives and the digitization of 20,000 historical and legal records related to the history of 20th-century water policy along the Columbia and Colorado river basins.

Colorado State University, in collaboration with four other academic libraries, proposes to expand the Western Waters Digital Library (WWDL) by providing integrated access to archival holdings related to water policy and environmental history for the Colorado and Columbia River basins. We will create an initial on-line repository of twenty-nine Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids for 558 linear feet of archival collections and digitize approximately 20,000 images from selected resources in those collections for inclusion in the WWDL. In addition, we will link the digital files directly from the finding aids, resulting in significantly enhanced access to archival and manuscript materials for historians and other scholars, faculty, and students.